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** Tour de France 2024 **

Hawki97

Hawki97

HB Legend
Dec 16, 2001
16,637
29,603
113
Iowa City, IA
Just catching up on Stage 4. Tadej with a huge day.

Jonas is missing everyone’s favorite American (Kuss) in the mountains. Going to be a rough go for him after such a long break. His April crash has to still be playing with his mind in descents. Looks like it’s Tadej’s to lose this year.
 
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Hawki97 said:
Just catching up on Stage 4. Tadej with a huge day.

Jonas is missing everyone’s favorite American (Kuss) in the mountains. Going to be a rough go for him after such a long break. His April crash has to still be playing with his mind in descents. Looks like it’s Tadej’s to lose this year.
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Do you think any of your fatass sisters here care? 🤡
 
I still think tadej will look less awesome when they string a few mountain stages together. Jonas will be tough there but you’re right. Maybe he isn’t 100% strong as he got back to race fitness. I was happy for primoz today. Hope he can battle for yellow too.
 
Hawki97 said:
Just catching up on Stage 4. Tadej with a huge day.

Jonas is missing everyone’s favorite American (Kuss) in the mountains. Going to be a rough go for him after such a long break. His April crash has to still be playing with his mind in descents. Looks like it’s Tadej’s to lose this year.
Click to expand...
Whomever has done the most PEDs, and trained the hardest while doing them, will emerge victorious.
 
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Hawki97 said:
Just catching up on Stage 4. Tadej with a huge day.

Jonas is missing everyone’s favorite American (Kuss) in the mountains. Going to be a rough go for him after such a long break. His April crash has to still be playing with his mind in descents. Looks like it’s Tadej’s to lose this year.
Click to expand...
Some whispers were going around about Kuss exclusion and it wasn’t COVID related. Visibly didn’t look that good in the few races leading up to the TdF (pre “infection”).

For Jonas, near impossible to be back in top form after that type of accident in such a short time. Thought he took the initial challenge from Tadej on the earlier stage well, but could tell Tadej was playing a little possum and testing Jonas’ legs/commitment. UAE looked extremely dominant on the front today. Will be interesting to see if they can keep that up. Total reversal from last year with Pogacar coming back from injury and going up against such a strong team in Jumbo.

Good to see Roglic battle and stay within the prospective 2-4 group. He is snake bit at this tour, so I will hold my breathe.

Remco riding well. Looks like he has lost a few kilos, surely an attempt to be able to compete day and day out in the mountains. Will have to see how much he has in the tank.

Setting up for an exciting tour. Even if Tadej is at near the form he has at the Giro. 2-4 still sets up to be interesting.

Edit to add: Jonas still has a lot of time to ride himself into shape. Hasn’t raced in awhile. Being down less than a minute at this stage isn’t insurmountable. ITT stage is next test.
 
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LBoogie28 said:
Some whispers were going around about Kuss exclusion and it wasn’t COVID related. Visibly didn’t look that good in the few races leading up to the TdF (pre “infection”).

For Jonas, near impossible to be back in top form after that type of accident in such a short time. Thought he took the initial challenge from Tadej on the earlier stage well, but could tell Tadej was playing a little possum and testing Jonas’ legs/commitment. UAE looked extremely dominant on the front today. Will be interesting to see if they can keep that up. Total reversal from last year with Pogacar coming back from injury and going up against such a strong team in Jumbo.

Good to see Roglic battle and stay within the prospective 2-4 group. He is snake bit at this tour, so I will hold my breathe.

Remco riding well. Looks like he has lost a few kilos, surely an attempt to be able to compete day and day out in the mountains. Will have to see how much he has in the tank.

Setting up for an exciting tour. Even if Tadej is at near the form he has at the Giro. 2-4 still sets up to be interesting.

Edit to add: Jonas still has a lot of time to ride himself into shape. Hasn’t raced in awhile. Being down less than a minute at this stage isn’t insurmountable. ITT stage is next test.
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Tomorrow is going to tell us a lot for sure. I honestly think we’re going to see a flip flop of last year with JV and TP. Being out that long just has its impact no matter how good you are. I expect this race will be decided in the Pyrenees and TP will be the man this year.
 
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Hawki97 said:
Also, great story on Stage 5 for Cav.

Amazing that Merckx did 34 in 6 years
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I kind of don’t like how Cav did it. I just think he can never be held on the same conversation as the cannibal. That being said, I hear (web talk) that Cav is one of the absolute coolest dudes on the tour.

Poster above gave a great early look at how the tour could unfold. I agree with all of it but sort of hope the month isn’t already over (TP takes it home easily from here). Would love some top 5 shake up and a little GC drama.
 
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sultanofsuede said:
I kind of don’t like how Cav did it. I just think he can never be held on the same conversation as the cannibal. That being said, I hear (web talk) that Cav is one of the absolute coolest dudes on the tour.

Poster above gave a great early look at how the tour could unfold. I agree with all of it but sort of hope the month isn’t already over (TP takes it home easily from here). Would love some top 5 shake up and a little GC drama.
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I have to say, I've been pretty impressed with a couple things in particular with the GC. 1) Jonas is holding up pretty well. Of course the proof will be in the mountains as these earlier stages haven't really been that much of a test for the GC riders, but the way he's been able to sustain Tadej's attacks (regardless of his intention) has been pretty impressive. 2) Remco, my man! Looking like the real deal. I hope it stays tight as we progress.

In regards to the sprinters, Girmay handing Jasper his lunch has been surprisingly satisfying. Jasper just is not a likable character IMHO. He's always riding that line between good and bad. I think they learned from last year to set the tone early with the relegation on Stage 8. Speaking of unlikable, booooo to Groenewegen winning a stage. Your nose piece is stupid.

Looking forward to things moving to the mountains in the next few days.
 
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The tour has been great. Top 4 still relatively close is intriguing. Jonas in a good position despite not having trained much and not having a race under his belt since the accident. Impressive. Not out of the question he could ride himself into shape. Extremely pleased with Remco. Hoping he holds up, but concerned he is not ready for the difficult days ahead. Some of that concern is physical, and some of that is tactical (wasn’t in great position on a couple of the earlier stages and had to dig to recover). Don’t think his team is there either. Roglic has had similar positioning issues, but has managed to stay somewhat connected on overall time.

I have also enjoyed how the top three guys have been vocal in the post race interviews regarding tactics and their feelings towards certain “business” decisions being made on the course. Tadej and Remco share similar racing styles, which is on the opposite end of how Jonas races his bike. Funny to see/hear some of the frustration.
 
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LBoogie28 said:
The tour has been great. Top 4 still relatively close is intriguing. Jonas in a good position despite not having trained much and not having a race under his belt since the accident. Impressive. Not out of the question he could ride himself into shape. Extremely pleased with Remco. Hoping he holds up, but concerned he is not ready for the difficult days ahead. Some of that concern is physical, and some of that is tactical (wasn’t in great position on a couple of the earlier stages and had to dig to recover). Don’t think his team is there either. Roglic has had similar positioning issues, but has managed to stay somewhat connected on overall time.

I have also enjoyed how the top three guys have been vocal in the post race interviews regarding tactics and their feelings towards certain “business” decisions being made on the course. Tadej and Remco share similar racing styles, which is on the opposite end of how Jonas races his bike. Funny to see/hear some of the frustration.
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Agree. IMHO, Stage 9 was one of the better days for the observer in quite some time. Really enjoyed it. So much better than a bored peloton yucking it up for 6 hours!

I haven't seen as many of the post-race interviews this year unless they're show during the live coverage of the stages. What's the scuttlebutt?
 
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Hawki97 said:
Agree. IMHO, Stage 9 was one of the better days for the observer in quite some time. Really enjoyed it. So much better than a bored peloton yucking it up for 6 hours!

I haven't seen as many of the post-race interviews this year unless they're show during the live coverage of the stages. What's the scuttlebutt?
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Remco literally said Jonas doesn’t have any “balls” the way he is racing. Both Tadej and Remco wanted to race to the line on the gravel stage, with the opportunity for one of them to get the stage win and have the podium be finalized (top 3 basically decided with the time gap). Jonas didn’t cooperate, so they ended up sitting up and letting the group come back to them.

Tadej has been less forceful with his language than Remco, and has even said he understands why Jonas is riding this way.

Jonas, who generally doesn’t talk much or give anything away, has basically said he is very confident with where he is at…expected to be down by much more and after stages that aren’t suited to his abilities (seemingly downplaying how the other riders have looked). Playing a psychological game on some level with his competitors.
 
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LBoogie28 said:
Remco literally said Jonas doesn’t have any “balls” the way he is racing. Both Tadej and Remco wanted to race to the line on the gravel stage, with the opportunity for one of them to get the stage win and have the podium be finalized (top 3 basically decided with the time gap). Jonas didn’t cooperate, so they ended up sitting up and letting the group come back to them.

Tadej has been less forceful with his language than Remco, and has even said he understands why Jonas is riding this way.

Jonas, who generally doesn’t talk much or give anything away, has basically said he is very confident with where he is at…expected to be down by much more and after stages that aren’t suited to his abilities (seemingly downplaying how the other riders have looked). Playing a psychological game on some level with his competitors.
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Holy shit. Not going to be making friends with that type of post-race commentary Remco! I know exactly the point you're talking about though. It was obvious that Remco in particular was not happy. He was clearly looking back, waving his arm, etc. and Jonas is like - f off, I'm staying on your wheel.

I was really hoping they'd finish the charge there. Would have made for great drama over the last 10K and I'm guessing the stage would have ended differently than the sprint that it kind of turned into. Still a great stage.
 
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Hawki97 said:
Agree. IMHO, Stage 9 was one of the better days for the observer in quite some time. Really enjoyed it. So much better than a bored peloton yucking it up for 6 hours!

I haven't seen as many of the post-race interviews this year unless they're show during the live coverage of the stages. What's the scuttlebutt?
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So if you’re not here blathering all day, you’re on the couch watching TV? Those aren’t E-bikes you know, dumb bitch! 😂😂
 
The real athletes are the support crew who can provide medical aide or fix a bike hanging out a car window…
 
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ericram said:
I think you are misguided at the what the worst sport is.

Let's start with synchronized swimming, NASCAR, cricket, and bullfighting.
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NASCAR is a sport of legends and dudes with hogs. Biking is the sports of Iowa State fans and Gator fans
 
hydro2.0 said:
NASCAR is a sport of legends and dudes with hogs. Biking is the sports of Iowa State fans and Gator fans
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It's called cycling, Bullfrog! You should head up to NEIA and give Potter's Hill a shot to see just how bad you are!
 
ericram said:
You give gator fans and Iowa state fans way too much cred. NASCAR sucks.
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False. Probably has to do with growing up going to dirt track races so the interest was always there. After I went to my first nascar race I was hooked.
 
hydro2.0 said:
False. Probably has to do with growing up going to dirt track races so the interest was always there. After I went to my first nascar race I was hooked.
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Driving around an oval 250x is boring AF. Just look at their ratings.

Now watch a biker hike up a steep hill then going down in a pack at 75 mph is breathtaking...

To each their own. Carry on.
 
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Ever year, the amount of shirtless spectators surprises me.
 
FYI
At the end of the race and they go to the studio the guy on the left is Paul Burmeister.
He is a former Iowa Quarterback
 
VodkaSam said:
Todays stage (11) was a great one to watch.
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The Stage 9 (gravel) and Stage 11 have been the top of the tour so far. Frankly, this is one of the most interesting lead-ins to the back half of the tour in a while. Roglic dropping is a real shame, but the next couple days in the mountains are going to tell us what the rest of the tour is going to look like. The pundits are jumping on the Jonas bandwagon big time right now.
 
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Well, Tadej put the nail in Jonas’ coffin today. Absolutely dominating performance. As much as I like the guy I was really pulling for Matteo to pull it out for Team America. Still an impressive ride.
 
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